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Devotional Magick
Definition Devotional Magick, commonly called Prayer in the mundane world, is the worship of a particular entity, (normally a deity of some mainstream pantheon although a practitioner of devotional magick could serve gods, spirits, angels, demons, Horrors, or even powerful, ancient supernatural creatures such as Vampires or Litches), in exchange for divine favors. In order to use devotional magick, a magician MUST be wholly dedicated to a single entity, and may only commune with that entity. Any attempt to call upon an entity beside the one who is normally the focus of devotion will lead to the magician falling from favor, and he may never be able to go back to worshiping the old entity ever again. As long as he is a good servant of the deity he worships, the deity will continue to perform special miracles for the magician. The only exception to this rule is that Higher gods will sometime allow their servants to call upon lesser gods within their pantheons. The GM will have to use his judgment in this matter. A magician calling out to Odin would be able to call upon Thor or Heimdall, as they are lesser gods within his favor. They would be punished, however, for trying to call upon Loki or Hel, who are not in favor with Odin, or Zeus or any of his children, since they are not even within the same pantheon! Prerequisites None, although Mythology (for gods of the ancient world), Occultism (for demons or spirits), and Theology (for a particular God or Goddess belonging to a mainstream religion) may be helpful to know more about your deity and the best way to worship it. There are also several positive characteristics which may be helpful. Religious Rites may also be helpful for casting spell effects that are listed as rites. Tools Naught but Faith. Many religious patriarchs use a staff as a conduit for their magickal energy, but this is not necessary. Holy symbols and jewelry may also be nice, but again is not necessary, and actually falls under the banner of Focus Magick. The GM may decide if possession of such items grant bonuses to spell effects or energy raising. Energy Energy is raised through continual prayer, pleading for the effect to occur. A group of acolytes may be praying for the same purpose, but they all must be true believers. If even one of them is not a true devotee in good standing of the entity being called upon, the casting will fail. The magician and his helpers must continue praying while building the energy until the energy has been raised. Unlike other types of magick, prayer does not need to continue during an ongoing effect: the entity being called upon will continue the spell effect as long as it deems necessary, and thus raising energy for Duration is not required. Every round that the devotees are praying, the magician must make a Faith roll, and the resulting success rank multiplied by the number of people praying indicates how much energy will be raised every turn that round. Method Once the necessary energy has been raised, the leader of the prayer group will roll on his Faith, modified by Religious Rites if the spell being cast is considered a rite. The result indicates how well the deity being called upon listened, and thus how powerful the effect will be. Miracles A character with the Move Mountains advantage may perform a miracle once per play session. This is a power which takes place on a large scale and breaks the rule that most regular people will never know about magick. The magician will call upon his chosen deity and plead for the miracle, and will roll Faith. The result will indicate how large-scale and powerful the miracle is. The GM is free to do whatever he wants as the miracle, but in the listing of Deities each will have a listed Miracle that they tend to perform. Category:ESPER Category:Magick